The Eyes of a Doll (The World of Shijuren Book 2) (31 page)

As the taproom settled back, my anger grew.

“Fuck the black-and-white queen. She got Desimir and she’s reaching for Radovan, but I’m not going to let her own another soul,” I hissed.

“You can’t make that promise.”

“Why not?”

“Because you keep your word, and you simply cannot control everything.”

She looked at me serenely. I started to curse her for a fool but stopped myself. Fortunately. Had she not but a few weeks past buried a dozen of her troops?

“I’m not as strong as you.”

“Mithra’s fire, it’s not strength, you fool.”

“What is it, then?”

“Tell me of the World Tree again.”

“It has a branch for each of us. We shall live no longer than our allotted time, the branch is already grown. We can break the branch, though, and die too soon.”

“Yes. But what can you control?”

“I can live an honorable life. I can keep my word when I give it.”

“And who have you sworn to?”

“I have sworn to Honker to free him from this threat.”

“Any others?”

“I have sworn to get Radovan healed, if it can be done, and free him as well. I suppose I have sworn to fix the rift between Ylli and Gibroz.”

“So that means—”

“That means I have to do whatever I can honorably do to fulfill those promises.”

“Yes.”

She paused. “You’ll swear another oath, for you are a good man.”

“Yes?”

“You’ll swear that any who serve you shall receive whatever protection you can give them. You’ll not waste their lives, and you’ll not break their branch on the World Tree before their lives have been lived.”

“I suppose I will.”

“So, it’s not strength, it’s simply living your life as best you can.”

I sighed and nodded.

Maja laughed. “And you think
I’m
a stubborn fool.”

I had forgotten about her. Now she continued, “We’ve spent all this time convincing you of what is plainly obvious.”

“You’re probably right, Maja, but it’s not something I’m used to.” I looked back at Piri. “Alright, explain the particulars of your plan.”

“We get a network of people watching those eight and reporting to you here.”

“Wait, you mean I have to stay here while I’m asking everyone else to risk their lives!”

“Yes.”

“But…”

“But you can’t be one of the people out there. You
have
to stay where the information can go. You’re the leader. You’re the one who has sworn to help Honker and the others. You have to do the job.”

Maja laughed until Piri looked at her. “Hush, lass, he’s as worried about your life as any other.”

“What does she have to do with all of this?”

“I’ll explain in a moment.”

“And where do I find the people to help? Are you suggesting I use all the Pathfinders?”

“No, I’m not, but think about this city. What is the one thing you’ve learned about it?”

“It’s crazier than the Trickster when he’s drunk.”

Piri laughed. “Exactly. And how is it crazy?”

“You’re all full of shifting alliances and competition.”

“Yes, so you need to make an alliance with someone who is willing to help you and has the people you’ll need. Especially if you are facing a large organization.”

“Which I probably am.”

“Which you probably are.”

“Well, that all makes sense, but I have no idea how to do that.”

“You’ve already done it, lad,” said Piri with a laugh.

“I have?”

“Yes. I think Vukasin owes you a favor. Do you think Vukasin could find two score people with the skills you need that he trusts?”

“Uh…, two score?”

“If not more, but the question is still valid.”

“I’m sure he could. There are so many people in Achrida, and he is a zupan.”

“Exactly.”

“Why does he owe me a favor, though?”

“I’m not positive he does, though I know my uncle well enough to believe that he feels he does. You’ve lost nothing by asking him, and I think you’ll get the help you need. We’ll go over tomorrow and visit him.”

“What’s in it for him?”

“Besides repaying a favor to you? I think he has other favors that he feels the need to repay.”

I suddenly understood. “He’s still mad at Andreas.”

Piri nodded smugly. “Exactly.”

“But how long will all this following around take?”

“Weeks, surely. Probably months.”

“How many will I let die during that time?”

“We can’t know, but I’ll bet not as many as if you bullied around Achrida like you’re already doing.”

I sat back. The idea repelled me, but…

“Do you have a better idea?”

“No, by the Allfather I do not!” I shook my head and sighed.

I started to ask about Maja, but Ragnar came up with shopska salads and last night’s selsko meso served in small, hollowed-out loaves of bread.

Maja could wait, and she did.

With the food Melia came making her rounds. Absently, I put down a strip of pork from the selsko meso. Piri and Maja did the same.

As we finished, Zoe brought out a platter of tarts. “Soraya made these special for you,” she explained.

We each took one, and Zoe carried the platter around to the rest of the guests. The tarts were delicious, and Honker received a shower of compliments for his wisdom in marrying Soraya. I felt no shame in licking off the last bits from my fingers.

“Honker told me these were his lad’s favorite. I don’t blame him.”

Piri and Maja nodded.

“Now, tell me why Maja is here.”

Piri smiled, and her smile broadened as Maja scowled and started cursing under her breath. “You see, Sevener, when you have a problem, you have a problem. When you have more than one problem, sometimes you have solutions.”

“If she hasn’t improved in the last month, then I agree Maja is a problem. I don’t see how that matters to me right now, though.”

Piri laughed as Maja started cursing more venomously under her breath. “It’s probably just as well that I can’t actually hear what she’s saying, Sevener. It’s not a smart idea to curse at one’s hecatontarch.”

I chuckled. Piri raised an eyebrow at Maja, who grudgingly subsided. She then turned back to me. “Yes, Maja is a problem for me. We all know she’s talented, but…”

“But if she were in the shieldwall next to me, I’d think about stabbing her before the battle so I had a chance to survive.”

“Exactly. Her discipline has improved only a little since you played with her on the training field.”

“I don’t know if I have time to beat her around the training field enough times to matter.” I saw the truth of Piri’s words written in Maja’s youthful anger.

Piri laughed, and Maja looked like she wanted to object.

“You probably don’t,” admitted Piri. “However, this is why two problems sometimes solve each other. One of the things I thought about overnight is that you’ll need help collecting information.”

“Isn’t that why we’re going to Vukasin’s today?”

“Yes, but you’ll need different help. Help that Maja, may the gods favor her idiotic soul, can actually provide.”

“Like what?”

“You need a messenger you can trust. For all that I can’t trust her on the field now, I trust her for this.”

I looked at Maja, who was trying to determine whether she should glower at the first part of Piri’s sentence or preen at the second. In the end, she settled for a sullen neutral glare.

“If you say I can trust her, I can see how a messenger will be important.”

“Also, Maja has lived in Achrida all her life. She can help you not think so straightforwardly.”

I nodded.

“I asked you, after you fought her, what you’d do with her if she were in the Seven Kingdoms. You said she’d get sent to a farm to work, and only receive weapons training after her work. That she would have to earn the right to return to the shieldwall.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have a farm to send her to. I have you, though. I expect you to work her until she falls over in exhaustion. Then, I expect that you will spend time each day training her skills in Ragnar’s stables.”

“Will she do the work? Will she do whatever task is needed?”

“Ask her.”

I looked at Maja and took a deep breath. “Well?”

She grudgingly nodded.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Yes, Sevener, I will do whatever task you need,” she spit out.

“Even if you don’t understand why he’s telling you to do it?”

She glanced at Piri, but nodded to me. “Yes.”

“No matter the task, no matter how disgusting?”

“Yes,” she sighed.

“Good.” I nodded. “But I need to know one more thing. Why are you doing this?”

Maja started to bristle as Piri laughed. “I told you he’d want to know. He doesn’t think like an Achridan, he thinks like a philosopher.”

Maja sighed and answered with a shrug. “I want to be a Pathfinder, and Piri won’t let me until I do this.”

“Why do you want to be a Pathfinder?”

“Because…” She paused.

“Well?”

“Because it’s what I want to be, by the Drowned God, why are you asking this idiotic question?”

“Because I can’t trust you unless I know.”

“Piri just said you could. Do you not trust her?”

“Yes, but I need reasons to believe in you that aren’t hers.”

“But…”

“You know the reason, Sevener,” interjected Piri.

I smiled at her. “Yes, I do, but I want her to know the reason.”

Piri smugly nodded and let me continue.

“Maja, if you stay with me, this will be your first task. I don’t expect you to complete it immediately, or even quickly, but you can’t ever reach your potential until you complete it. You have to know why you want to be a Pathfinder, and you have to tell me.”

“I don’t understand!”

“No, you don’t. Neither did I for many years. I’m not sure I actually understood the question or answer until I came to Achrida. But I can tell you that your chances of living to collect the zupan’s pension are much greater if you find the answer.”

She sat back with a confused face.

Melia jumped onto the table and pawed insistently at my hand until I started scratching her ears. “Since you don’t know yet why you want to be a Pathfinder,” I asked, “do you know why Piri wants you to serve me?”

“You know damn well why. You both think I’m stupid.”

“No, Maja.” I shook my head. “Stupid and undisciplined are two different things. If she thought you were just stupid, she’d just send you away.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means she’s assigning you to me because she thinks you could be something, but your life has to change for that happen. You’re too stubborn to change while living the life you have.”

“See? He talks like a philosopher.” Piri’s delighted laugh prompted both Melia and Maja to glower at her.

I sighed. “If I’m going to ask you why Piri wants you to serve me, I suppose I should also ask myself the same question.”

Maja looked at me. “What do you mean?”

“You’re from Achrida. You all have at least three arrows on every string, it seems. She’s assigning you to me because she wants you to grow into the person she feels you can be.”

“I suppose,” she growled.

“Well, she’s doing the same thing to me.”

Piri chuckled.

“I don’t understand,” grumbled Maja.

“She told me last night I had to think like a lord so I could fulfill my responsibilities. You’re the first step.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I can’t accept your service unless we swear oaths to each other.”

Piri nodded. Maja looked from me to Piri and back. Piri took a breath and got a serious look on her face.

“Maja Mrnjavcevic. You have enrolled and sworn to the Pathfinders. I, Piriska Mrnjavcevic, hecatontarch, do hereby absolve you of your oath to the Pathfinders for the duration of your service with Edward Athelredson. Should you choose not to serve Edward, or at the moment your service to him ends, your responsibilities and debts to the Pathfinders resume and must be fulfilled completely. Do you understand these terms?”

With her mouth dropping, Maja slowly nodded.

Piri looked at me with a smile. “Your turn, Sevener.”

“Now I have to remember the exact words of my oaths.”

“I know you do.”

I smiled. “As it happens, you’re correct. I need to borrow your sword.”

Piri nodded and handed me her blade.

I rose, turned to Maja, and held Piri’s sword out between us. “If you would take service with me, then you must swear to me. Kneel before me, hold the sword, and repeat these words.”

Maja looked at Piri. Then, thoughtfully, at me for a moment. She slowly knelt, and, stumbling at first, repeated the oath I had sworn to Penwulf, the oath that had led me to give my father joy by slaying him.

“I will be to Edward Aethelredson loyal and true, and love all that he loves and shun all that he shuns, according to books of law and the order of the world, never by will nor by intention, by words nor by works, do anything that is loathsome to him, on condition that he keeps me as I will deserve, and perform all that our agreement was, when I gave myself to him and chose his will. This I, Maja Mrnjavcevic, swear by vow unbroken.”

I took a breath and responded. “I will be to Maja Mrnjavcevic a worthy lord, and give to her bencriht in my hall, be openhanded with my wealth, arm her that she may serve me in battle or peace, and never by will nor by intention, by words nor by works, fail to reward her as her service merits. This I, Edward Aethelredson, swear by vow unbroken.”

Maja released the sword, which I wiped clean and returned to Piri.

“Excellent,” said Piri.

“I suppose.”

Maja stared at us as if unsure what had just happened. I myself was not sure what having a thegn meant. I only knew that Piri felt it wise. At least I knew the first thing I had to do.

I rose and went over the bar. Ragnar had come out as the midday crowd arrived and was bustling behind his bar.

“Ragnar, I need another room.”

“What? Is there to be bein’ somethin’ wrong with the one that yer to be already havin’? Why I’m to be sayin’ I can be makin’ sure Eirik or Karah are to be fixin’ whatever yer problem may happen to be bein’. I was to be thinkin’ you were to be likin’ the room that yer to have been havin’?”

I was waving Ragnar’s fears away in the middle of his rant, but he had to finish it.

“That’s not the question. I have just taken Maja as an armsman, and I need to provide for her keep. She’ll need a room, and I’ll be paying for her food, drink, and whatever else she needs from you.” I thought for a moment. “A room close to mine would be best, if that’s possible.”

“I’m to be thinkin’ I can arrange that. Is she to be havin’ a horse?”

“Not that I know of, though that might change.”

Ragnar looked over at Piri and Maja. Slowly, he nodded.

“Now I’m to be thinkin’ I am to be understandin’ this a mite better, but then Piri’s always been bein’ a sly one, more so than most of thems that are to be livin’ in this city, and that’s to be sayin’ somethin’ impressive. I do believe yer to have been findin’ that out a time or two.”

I laughed.

“That she is. I’ll send Maja over so you can get her settled in.”

Ragnar started his rambling assent, but I ignored it and went back to my table.

“You remember your first task?”

Maja shrugged. “I’m to discover why I want to be a Pathfinder.”

“Yes. Here’s your second task. Ragnar’s getting you a room. Go get settled in and then return here.”

She nodded, looked at Piri, grabbed her packs, and went upstairs with Ragnar.

Piri leaned back. “After she’s done, we go to Mrnjavcevic House and visit Vukasin.”

“I suppose. Do you honestly think he’ll help?”

“Yes, I do, and not because you’ve taken one of his grand-nieces in your service.”

“I wondered what her relation to you and Vukasin was.”

“A niece to me and a grand-niece to him.”

“That’s another reason you want her to serve me.”

“Yes. She’s tied up in the family with the Pathfinders. She won’t know what to expect from you and might actually start thinking.”

I shrugged. “I have to admit I’m not sure what I’m going to do with her, but I can imagine she might be useful.”

“Train with her every day, and not just for her sake. You’ll not have the chance to come to the barracks for a while.”

“You don’t think I’ll have to stay here all the time collecting information, do you?”

“No, but I do think you’ll have to stay here most of the time. You do have to change your plan, and I think getting a group to help you is the best idea. However, the counter-move is obvious to me. You’re already a target, but even more so. Every time you leave the Faerie, the odds are you’re going to get attacked.”

“Every time?”

“Absolutely.”

“What if they attack here?”

“They probably will.”

“What? Then I can’t stay here and expose Ragnar and his family to this danger!”

“Be still. Yes, you can. What will they say if you ask them?”

“They’ll brush off the danger, but that matters not!”

“Yes, it does matter. You have a problem to solve. Do you have a better suggestion for a base to solve the problem?”

“I could get a house.”

“Where you and Maja will get slaughtered soon enough.”

“Better just us two than all of the Faerie.”

“First, you forget that neither Ragnar nor Zoe have always been innkeepers.”